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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Senate Intelligence Committee released the "Interrogation Report", otherwise known as "The Torture Report".

In an exclusive interview on December 9, 2014, Michael Hirsh of "Politico", asked Bush's former CIA director some questions. One of them is the following question, quoted out of that same "Politico" article, dated December 9, 2014, that can be found at the following URL...

"According to CIA records, it concludes, no CIA officer including Directors George Tenet and Porter Goss briefed the president on the specific enhanced interrogation techniques before April 2006. Is that true?"
Michael Hayden: "It is not. The president personally approved the water-boarding of Abu Zubaydah [in 2002]. It’s in his book! What happened here is that the White House refused to give them [the Senate Intelligence Committee] White House documents based upon the separation of powers and executive privilege. That’s not in their report, but all of that proves that there was dialogue was going on with the White House. What I can say is that the president never knew where the [black] sites were. That’s the only fact I’m aware that he didn't know."

So it is George W. Bush's own CIA director that claims that the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush did know of the torture techniques, and he knew about everything except where the "black sites" were. The black sites are now known to be located all across the world. How would the leader of the United States not know? The fact is what Michael Hayden is saying MUST be correct. He is going on record stating the facts. Vice President Dick Cheney and the President himself condones torture as legal and just. The vice president has recently been quoted that if he were to do it over again, he would gladly do it. President Bush mentioned how he condoned the torture techniques in his book.

What were the techniques? Here is a list of highlights of the torture techniques. Immediately to follow is the abbreviated version of a several thousand page document that took over 6 years to accumulate and declassify for the public to read.

Here are the points the report makes, according to its summary:

#1: The CIA's use of its enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees.#2: The CIA's justification for the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques rested on inaccurate claims of their effectiveness.#3: The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others.#4: The conditions of confinement for CIA detainees were harsher than the CIA had represented to policymakers and others.#5: The CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the Department of Justice, impeding a proper legal analysis of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program.#6: The CIA has actively avoided or impeded congressional oversight of the program.#7: The CIA impeded effective White House oversight and decision-making.#8: The CIA's operation and management of the program complicated, and in some cases impeded, the national security missions of other Executive Branch agencies.#9; The CIA impeded oversight by the CIA's Office of Inspector General.#10: The CIA coordinated the release of classified information to the media, including inaccurate information concerning the effectiveness of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques.#11: The CIA was unprepared as it began operating its Detention and Interrogation Program more than six months after being granted detention authorities.#12: The CIA's management and operation of its Detention and Interrogation Program was deeply flawed throughout the program's duration, particularly so in 2002 and early 2003.#13: Two contract psychologists devised the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques and played a central role in the operation, assessments, and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced operations related to the program.#14: CIA detainees were subjected to coercive interrogation techniques that had not been approved by the Department of Justice or had not been authorized by CIA Headquarters.#15: The CIA did not conduct a comprehensive or accurate accounting of the number of individuals it detained, and held individuals who did not meet the legal standard for detention. The CIA's claims about the number of detainees held and subjected to its enhanced Interrogation techniques were inaccurate.#16: The CIA failed to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of its enhanced interrogation techniques.#17: The CIA rarely reprimanded or held personnel accountable for serious and significant violations, inappropriate activities, and systemic and individual management failures.#18: The CIA marginalized and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program.#19: The CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program was inherently unsustainable and had effectively ended by 2006 due to unauthorized press disclosures, reduced cooperation from other nations, and legal and oversight concerns.#20: The CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program damaged the United States' standing in the world, and resulted in other significant monetary and non-monetary costs.

At the conclusion of the report, regardless of what was found, President Obama and legal consul has decided not to prosecute George W. Bush, or Dick Cheney, or the CIA Director Micael Hayden. This may be true for the moment, but there will be some lawsuits on indictments to follow such a report as this, as someone has to be accountable for what has happened. In my book, it should start at the top, indicting George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, because both of these people were ultimately responsible for everything that happened in the military.